back to prehistoric savage

Everyone carried out batches of red and hard bricks against the heat remaining in the kiln room.

The fired bricks were then used to build the second dragon kiln. This time Zhang Tian no longer went to work in person, but only occasionally came to the site to inspect the progress and inspect the quality of the project. The on-site work was supervised by Jing.

The first dragon kiln operated almost around the clock, producing one kiln of red bricks every three days on average, and only took a breather on those days when it rained.

The person responsible for firing bricks is Huang.

Baking bricks is not only a technical job, but also hard work.From the beginning of preheating, you must stay by the dragon kiln and add firewood continuously. At the end of preheating, when you add firewood layer by layer from bottom to top, you need to grasp the opportunity very well. You will basically not be able to work in those four or five hours. Something else.

After Huang and several kiln workers followed the sky priest twice, they had completely mastered the trick and began to operate independently.

Zhang Tian also handed it over to them with confidence. After all, it was brick-making, not porcelain-making. The quality is not that important, as long as it can be used.

During this period, everyone responded to the Sky Priest's call to "concentrate on big things" and spent their free time making bricks. Although they still didn't know what big things the Sky Priest planned to do, what did this big thing have to do with brick-making? relation.

From the perspective of the Rock Castle people, this is really a very strange thing: half of the male labor force of the entire tribe is digging mud, mixing mud, building pottery kilns, cutting firewood, burning bricks... and obtaining food every day. Irrelevant things are "not doing their job properly" in their perception.

If this were placed in other tribes, they would have starved to death!
It was too profound for Lei to understand. He just instinctively felt that this was a great thing.

When the Rock Castle tribe was at its strongest, it was an alliance formed by many cave owners. Its population was larger than that of the Sky Clan, but it still had to run for food every day, had no leisure all year round, and the tribesmen still starved to death.

There are even fewer people in the Sky Clan, but they have managed to do something that the Rock Castle Tribe has not been able to do for many years!
While other tribes were still worrying about food, they could already spend their time building dragon kilns, burning pottery and bricks, retting hemp and spinning clothes...

Food disappears after being eaten, but these things they made can be preserved for a long time and used repeatedly. Now it is just a dragon kiln and a batch of red bricks. What about next year?What about next year next year?The gap is accumulating little by little, and before long, other tribes on this land may not be able to compete with them.

Lei couldn't help but think about the problem from the perspective of the Rock Castle people. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel excited, thinking that these are really a group of terrible guys!

Then he was glad that he got on the ship early. His intuition told him that the sooner he joins, the better. If he joins the other party after it has developed, he may not be able to enjoy the treatment of his tribe.

While the bricks were being fired, Zhang Tian asked Black Snake to take the Yanbao people to the mountains to cut down bamboo and build bamboo houses, not only to teach them the methods, but also to familiarize them with the surrounding environment.

After the second dragon kiln was built, the two kilns started working at the same time. The daily output of red bricks doubled and the demand for firewood doubled. The half of the men who were not doing their jobs had to indulge in cutting down trees.Limited by backward tools, logging efficiency is very low. When the adjacent woody plants are all cut down, transportation becomes increasingly difficult.

It is indeed unrealistic at this stage to want everyone to live in brick houses.

Although the Dragon Kiln is a masterpiece of wood-fired kilns and has maximized the combustion efficiency of wood, the calorific value of wood is ultimately too low and far inferior to coal.

It's a pity that this is northern Hebei, not western Shanxi. Otherwise, if you shovel it down, you might be able to dig out coal mines.

What is lacking now is not only coal mines, but also the widely distributed limestone mines.

Fortunately, the number of bricks was not large, and only 3 to [-] yuan were burned throughout the summer. This order of magnitude exceeded Xiao's current counting ability. Zhang Tian did not count in detail. He only made a rough calculation based on the output of each kiln. Calculate.

Building a house with bricks alone is not enough; you also need a strong adhesive to hold the bricks together firmly.

Whether it is cement in later generations or lime mortar and glutinous rice mortar used by ancient people, lime is an essential raw material.

Without limestone, Zhang Tian could only use shellfish shells as a substitute for limestone.

The main component of shells and limestone is calcium carbonate.From the earliest times, residents in coastal areas often used shells to replace limestone. The ancients called shellfish mirages, and the calcareous materials made from shells were called mirage ash.

Both "Zuo Zhuan" and "Tiangong Kaiwu" have relevant records of calcining shells to make lime. However, at that time, lime was rarely used in the construction industry. After all, ancient buildings were mainly made of wooden structures - but for For funerals, quicklime can absorb moisture easily and can prevent moisture and corrosion.

Zhang Tian had already made preparations. He didn't throw away the aquatic products and shellfish shells he usually ate. He washed them all and stored them in the warehouse.

Clam shells were originally a good material for making various tools, so the tribesmen did not take it seriously. Even if the Sky Priest did not remind them, they would not be willing to throw them away, but even crab shells and snail shells must be stored, which is very puzzling.

Now, they finally understand the reason for hoarding various shells.

When the Sky Priest said that he would put all the clam shells, crab shells, and snail shells stored in the warehouse into ashes in the dragon kiln, everyone was shocked, but thinking that the Sky Priest often did such unexpected things, they also No longer surprised.

The men moved all the shells accumulated over the past two years into the dragon kiln and placed them slightly apart to ensure full combustion.

The calcining temperature is usually between 900-1100°C. It was difficult for previous brick kilns to reach this high temperature, but the dragon kiln was more than enough.

The firing process is similar to that of firing bricks, but the temperature should be controlled as much as possible.

Calcined calcium carbonate decomposes into calcium oxide and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide will undergo a reduction reaction with the carbon element under high temperature conditions to generate carbon monoxide. This is the so-called reducing flame, which is very important when firing porcelain, but when firing shells This should be avoided as much as possible to avoid excessive sintering.

While Zhang Tian was operating, he explained to Huang and other kiln workers, telling them that they should add less firewood when calcining shellfish.

Of course, Zhang Tian is just a theoretical person. He only knows how to do this, but how much firewood can be added to calcine high-quality lime can only be accumulated through practice over and over again.

While waiting for the dragon kiln to cool naturally, Zhang Tian took the men to dig clay.

It was already autumn and the hemp was ripe. The women, led by Lin Yu, harvested the hemp, retting it, weaving and making clothes.The people of Rock Castle finally put on linen clothes. Of course, they won't be able to wear them for long. After winter, they should change to thick animal skin coats.

When the temperature in the kiln cools down to a temperature that people can tolerate, the kiln is opened to remove the shells.

The various shells still maintain their shape, but they have been burnt black, dry and brittle, like a ball of dough, which breaks into pieces when pinched.

If you want to ensure the quality of lime, you need to control the pressure inside the kiln during the process of leaving the kiln to prevent outside air from entering the kiln. If you don't have this condition now, don't care.

Everyone took out the calcined lime.The lime is broken into small pieces and stored in pottery. The crushed lime is screened to remove impurities and undecomposed calcium carbonate.

The millet was almost ripe, and at this time of year there were always some blind animals that came in the dark to "steal the vegetables." Zhang Tian had to organize everyone again to carry out a special campaign to "sweep out crime and eliminate evil", adding a lot of meat to the tribe.

The materials for building a brick house were gathered together. Although the autumn harvest was approaching and the time was tight, Zhang Tian still summoned everyone to start building as much as they could. If the work could not be completed before the autumn harvest, then wait until after the autumn harvest to continue work.Anyway, it is our own project, there is no construction period, we can delay it as long as we want.

Because building materials are limited, it is impossible to build a house for everyone. Building a house for some people will be unfair to others, which will inevitably make people feel unbalanced.

Therefore, it is better for everyone to stay away and squeeze in the dormitory. As for these bricks, Zhang Tian plans to use them to build public buildings.

Existing public buildings in the clan: warehouses, granaries, bamboo rat breeding factories and toilets.

There is no need for the toilets in the bamboo rat breeding factory to be so luxurious. The warehouses and granaries need to be expanded. The old ones are left unchanged and the new ones are converted into brick buildings with better moisture-proof and anti-corrosion properties, which are conducive to long-term storage.

In addition, Zhang Tian also wanted to build three new public buildings: an altar, a school and a bathhouse.

As for the altar, Zhang Tian plans to build a circular building based on the Temple of Heaven. Of course it is not worthy of being compared with the Temple of Heaven. It just has that meaning.

The school has been planned for a long time.

Zhang Tian and Lin Yu's current method of imparting knowledge is more like the apprenticeship system of later generations, because most of the knowledge is technical rather than theoretical. There is nothing wrong with this method, but it is a bit scattered and unsystematic, and the teaching targets are mostly We are adults, but education starts from childhood.

Time flies by like a flash, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them have traveled here for almost three years.

There is no telling which stage they can lead their people to in their lifetime, so both of them hope to pass on as much knowledge, concepts and methodologies to the next generation as possible in the limited time. These are the most important things they can leave behind. Important stuff.

However, their time and energy are limited. They are usually busy enough guiding production and construction. They only have time to teach and educate people in winter. Therefore, it is necessary to build a warm and spacious school to provide children with a good learning environment.

As for the bathhouse, it was a benefit given to him by Zhang Tian and Lin Yu. It was a bit unbearable to take a bath only a few times a year.

Zhang Tian calculated the number of bricks and found that building the thinnest brick wall would cost about 60 yuan per square meter. The building area is calculated as 72 square meters per building, with a length of 4300, a width of 5000, and a height of 5. The area of ​​the enclosure is [-] Square meters, each building requires [-] bricks. Calculate it as [-] bricks, then multiply by [-], which is [-], which is about the same as the existing number of bricks.

start!
Make cement first.

There are many types of cement. The one that mixes lime and clay is called Portland cement. The industrial production process is to mix calcite and clay in a certain proportion, then calcine the clinker, and finally grind it into cement. .

Zhang Tian adopted a simplified version: directly mix lime and clay in a ratio of three to one. The resulting cement also has good hydraulic hardness and quick-setting properties, which is very useful.

Build the granary and warehouse first, which will be used immediately.

Building a wall is a process that men are very familiar with: a brick, a shovel of mud, a squeeze, and scraping off the squeezed mortar.The bases were stacked at staggered seams until they were over the top, about seven feet high.

Jing and Black Snake each led a "construction team" and started work at the same time.

The roof still uses the old method of interlacing bamboos and covering them with bundles of thatch. This method is much simpler than using tiles and is also very practical.

To build a granary, you must first dig a pit. This granary alone can hold [-] to [-] kilograms of grain!Enough to store this year's larger harvest than last year's.

Brick walls and floor tiles are also built into the cellar so that rodents cannot dig holes directly into the cellar to steal food.

After building the granary and warehouse, they quickly built a circular altar. The altar was not that big, with a diameter of about five meters and a height of about three meters. It had three layers in total, shrinking from bottom to top like a birthday cake.

Zhang Tian originally planned to use the arching technique to build a dome on the top, but found that the technical difficulty was too high and beyond his capabilities, so he had to give up.

The altar was not built in the camp, but on the top of the nearest hill to the south of the camp. It was not too close, and it took two hours to walk there.

However, since it is a sacrifice to the sky, it should naturally be built closest to the sky.

Zhang Tian boldly named the altar "Tiantan" and the low hill "Tiantan Mountain".From now on, Mount Tiantan is the only officially designated sacrificial site.

After doing all this, the millet in the field was already ripe, so the construction was suspended and the millet harvesting began.

Although the Yanbao people did not catch up with the spring plowing, they participated in the entire autumn harvest. Harvesting, drying, threshing, winnowing, grinding... every step was a new experience for them.

Harvest is always painful and joyful. It includes both the hard work and the joy of harvest. The harder it is, the richer the harvest. When you think about it this way, you won’t feel tired no matter how tired you are.

When they saw basket after basket full of threshed millet, the smiles on people's faces overflowed with the millet.

The weather is getting colder day by day, and the earth and hills are also dressed in golden clothes, creating a solemn scene between heaven and earth.

Before the severe cold came, Zhang Tian led the men to build the last two houses equipped with floor heating.

The school was built in the center of the camp, with candles made of beeswax inserted on the four walls. It was the only school that used this luxury item for lighting.In addition, there are small square tables similar to Kang tables, evenly arranged in a ten by eight pattern, without chairs or benches, and sitting on the Kang table.

The bathhouse was much smaller and was built next to a ditch to facilitate drainage.The men's and women's bathhouses are separated by bamboo, and the bathing pool is made of bricks. It can be heated with a floor kang, or a wizard can be asked to use the power of red stone to directly raise the temperature of the pool water.

The pool is not big and can accommodate up to three people at a time.For primitive people, bathing is not a rigid necessity. Except for Lin Yu, no one would bathe every day without any problem. If you can wash it twice a year, you are considered to be very clean.

Snowflakes fell, and in the blink of an eye, another year came. (End of chapter)